Floor cleaning and polishing device



March 19, 1963 E. NOHL ET AL FLOOR CLEANING AND POLISHING DEVICE 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 18, 1959 m SL0 VI WHN m WD R N U 0 E m T VOR TGE A March 19, 1963 Filed June 18, 1959 E. NOHL ET AL FLOOR CLEANING ANDPOLISHING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS EGON NOHL 6 ER TRUD NOHL B 6mz% WZ ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofi ice 3,081,481 Patented Mar.19, 1963 FLOOR CLEANING AND POLISHING DEVICE Egon Nohl and Gertrud Nohl,Wiener Neustadt, Austria,

assignors to Friedrich Hobiger, Wien IX, Austria, and

Leopold Hobiger, Wien VII, Austria Filed June 18, 1959, Ser. No. 821,157Claims priority, application Austria June 25, 1958 1 Claim. (Cl. 15543)The present invention relates to a container for the storage, deliveryand application of liquid floor cleaning and polishing agents.

Known containers of this kind are either fastened to the handle of a mopor another floor cleaning implement by means of clamps or clips or arefixed between the two halves of the handle by means of screws or thelike. The cleaning or polishing agent is either dropped on the floordirectly through a suitable opening of the container and spread out bythe implement or supplied in controllable manner to the distributor ofthe implement.

Especially, when large surfaces are concerned, as for example inrestaurants, ofiices or hospitals, the charge of the container is soonused up and a repeated filling or replacement with another container isrequired. The loosening of the clips or screws takes much time and israther troublesome. The use of elastic bands cannot overcome saidinconvenience since they do not guarantee a satisfactory non-twistingand non-sliding support of the container whereby disturbances, or in thecase of a container connected with a distributor, damages of thecoupling or controlling elements may occur.

A commercial can which, when made of sheet metal, is generally providedwith a beaded edge at both ends is clamped in some cases between twonoses fixed to the handle or the implement. One of the noses is rigidlyattached and the other nose or clamp is held by springs or can beshifted along the handle. Furthermore, there have been used fasteninglugs on the can itself in com bination with such noses. A containerfixed in this manner can be replaced more or less rapidly, but thestability of the mounting is not sufiicient in all cases and, above all,complicated and expensive clamps and screws are required for fasteningwhich are easily lost.

It has furthermore been proposed to provide a cylindrical container withnotches at both ends which receive the upper or lower end, respectively,of a two-part fork, the base of which is inserted into the handle andthe ends of which can be connected by means of sleeves and splints toengage the container. Such an arrangement is, however, very complicatedand expensive and the replacement of the container takes much time.Another known container has, at one side along the surface lines, ashallow groove adapted to the rounding of the handle, which groove canonly guarantee a secure fastening of the container on the handle withthe use of clamps which is quite complicated. .In this case, too, therequired fastening means are expensive and are easily lost.

The present invention concerns a container which does not possess theaforesaid disadvantages. The wall of the container is provided with agroove, the surfaces of which encircle the handle of the implement by atleast 180 of its circumference whereby a secure and solid fastening isproduced. When the encircling angle amounts to 180 only, elastic bandsor the like that can easily be slipped over suffice to secure the handlein the groove. Safety means of this kind can, however, be dispensed withwhen the encircling angle is enlarged so that the edges of the groovehave a distance from one another that is smaller than the inner diameterof the groove. In this case it is of advantage to use an elastic plasticmaterial such as a thermoplastic material for making the container,since the contracted inserting slit of the groove can then beelastically enlarged when the handle is introduced and the walls of thegroove encircle the handle with tension. In order to improve said springaction, the edges of the groove can project, according to a furtherfeature of the invention, from the wall of the container in the form ofribs.

The cross section of the groove is generally adapted to the crosssection of the handle and has a circular shape. In many cases with theprior art, it is necessary to provide the handle or the container withguiding elements in the form of perforated fishplates or the like forthe guidance of a drawing means acting on a valve disposed on thecontainer or the head of the implement for regulating the issue of theliquid. Expensive and complicated guiding elements of this kind can bedispensed with according to the invention in simple manner by means of agroove having a shape such that a free channel-like space is providedfor between the handle and the wall of the container, in which space thedrawing means are guided. In principle, a non-circular cross sectioncontracting in V-shaped manner towards the inserting slit may be used inall cases where certain differences in diameter of the handles usedshall be compensated.

The wall of the container may be provided with the groove over the wholelength or only over a part of the shell (FIG. 2A). In the latter case,projections exist with respect to the unshaped wall of the container. Itis also possible to weld lugs or ribs on an even-walled container whichthenform the said projections.

At the transition area where the shell of the prior art container meetsthe container bottom, difiiculties may arise insofar as the bottom,which has a right-angled position with respect to the shell, does notgive to the desired extent in the elastic deformation of the containershell when inserting the handle. According to the pres ent invention,this difiiculty is overcome by a bottom that is vaulted and/orcorrugated at least in the area of the outlet of the groove.

The accompanying drawings serve to illustrate the invention. FIGURE 1shows a container according to the invention which is fastened to thehandle or shaft of an implement in a position suitable for dropping theliquid on the floor. FIGURE 2 shows the container in a suitable positionfor feeding a distributor. FIG. 2A shows the drawing element connectedto a control valve for the container and also an embodiment whereingripping grooves are provided at each end of the container. FIGURES 3-5are cross sections of various groove profiles, and FIGURES 6 and 7represent the longitudinal sections of two different embodiments of thecontainer.

The container 1 is replaceably fixed to the handle 2 of a floor cleaningor polishing implement. The liquid present in the container is eitherdropped directly on the floor by an appropriate stopper 4 (FIGURE 1) orsupplied in controllable manner to the distributor 3 of the implement.(FIGURE 2) by which distributor it is then applied to the floor.

The container (a bottle or the like) is fastened to the handle accordingto the invention by means of a groove 5 provided for in the wall of thecontainer. The borders of the groove may have a distance from oneanother corresponding to the inner diameter of the groove (encirclingangle of In this case simple elastic slip-over bands B or the likeguarantee a solid encircling of the handle. The borders of the groovemay likewise have a smaller distance from one another (encircling larlywhen the container is made from an elastic plastic material.

FIGURE 3 shows the simplest shape of the cross section of the groovewith slightly rounded edges. In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4, theborders 6 have the form of projecting ribs that provide for an improvedelasticity of the borders of the groove when inserting the handle, evenin the case of a less elastic container material. FIGURE illustrates thecross section of a groove having a shape such that a free channel 8 isprovided for between the handle and the wall of the container, whichchannel serves for guiding the drawing cable 9 which extends from avalve V (FIG. 2A) for the container disposed at head 3' (FIG. 2A) to ahand lever L at the upper end of handle 2.

When the groove extends to the transition area between the containershell and the container bottom, care must be taken that the bottom 10 isrendered elastic by means of corrugations and/or vaults 10, at leastaround the outlet 11 of the groove (FIGURE 6). This latter precautioncan be dispensed with in simple manner as shown in FIGURE 7 by a groovethat does not extend to the bottom of the container. The wall of thecontainer between the end of the groove and the bottom is then set backby the depth of the groove.

The container according to the invention, particularly when made of athermoplastic material, can be produced in simple manner and withoutgreat expenses and guarantees by its fastening means a rapid replacementwith one manipulation and a solid fixation to the handle of a mop or thelike without additional fixing elements.

Since, with an encircling angle of more than 180, the handle is alwaysclamped into the groove by the elastic borders thereof and the crosssection of the groove is advantageously smaller than the cross sectionof a standard handle, certain differences in the diameter of the handlesused have in general no particular influence on the fixation of thecontainer to the handle.

By a groove, the cross section of which has a particular shape, forexample a groove with a round bottom and side walls converging inV-shaped manner towards the borders (in reverse sense to FIGURE 5)differences in diameter of several millimeters can be easilycompensated. The fastening of the container to extremely thin handles islikewise not difiicult when a piece of cloth or the like is insertedinto the groove before pressing in the handle.

We claim:

A cleaning and polishing device comprising, in combination, an elongatedhandle shaft, a cleaning and polishing element attached to said handleshaft at one end, an externally grooved container formed wholly ofresilient material adapted for wedging attachment to said handle shaft,a groove in said container arranged in an axial direction andresiliently adapted for encircling said handle shaft over an are greaterthan of its circumference, said container having a vaulted bottom, andmeans for controlling flow from said grooved container.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS741,432 Allen Oct. 13, 1903 809,991 Sheridan Jan. 16, 1906 882,934 EggerMar. 24, 1908 1,071,408 Evans Aug. 26, 1913 1,264,707 Stewart Apr. 30,1918 2,099,055 Ferngren Nov. 16, 1937 2,307,858 Rufo Jan. 12, 19432,618,799 Barbato Nov. 25, 1952 2,646,021 Rice July 21, 1953 2,754,029Maxcey July 10, 1956 2,789,300 Beller Apr. 23, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS6,564 Great Britain May 5, 1894 53,053 Switzerland Oct. 1, 1910 437,966Great Britain Nov. 8, 1935 731,785 France May 31, 1932

